Bia Beauty

It seems everything I write about on this blog always comes back to me having dry skin. But, I really needed some kind of gentle facial exfoliator, and I remembered about the fantastic brand made in Cork  Bia Beauty. I used a sample of their Orange & Grapefruit Facial Exfoliant & Cleanser a while ago and I remember I loved it because the little exfoliating beads were that fine, they were extremely gentle on the skin and yet they got the job done. So, I finally purchased the full size. I absolutely love the quirky jars that they come in.

The lovely people at Bia Beauty put in a sample of the Mellow Mandarin Moisturiser in my parcel so I was delighted to try that as well. I loved it so much I went back and ordered the full size of it too!

First of all let me talk about the scent of these products. I think some will love it, some will hate it. They just smell completely "natural" if you know what I mean? I just love the scent. You really feel like you are putting something really good on your skin.

I use the cleanser/exfoliator every other night to keep my skin as flake-free as possible! As I said before, the "grit" in this product is extremely fine and does not cause any irritation or redness on my sensitive skin. It contains castor and thistle oil, orange blossom water, orange & grapefruit essential oils, and jojoba grains. I just give it a good massage all over my face, focusing on the extremely dry areas and just rinse off. My skin has never been in better condition and I really mean that. My complexion is brighter and the jojoba grains are keeping the obvious dry texture of my skin at bay.

So to finish off my cleansing routine I slather on the Mellow Mandarin moisturiser! I know the Bia beauty slogan is "feed your skin", well i really feel that is what I am doing when I use this moisturiser. It feels really nourishing on the skin..I actually think I am addicted to it! It's suitable for all skin types, and it's a light enough moisturiser to use as a day cream too. It contains Mandarin essential oil, calendula water and sweet almond oil to keep skin hydrated and to balance the skin's sebum levels. I use it day and night and together with the cleanser/exfoliator they have made such a massive difference to the condition of my skin.

Also ordering from the Bia Beauty website has been really great, they are kind enough to include a little "bite size" sample of their products with my orders and a little handwritten note which honestly just makes my day when I open up the package. And also the service is super fast, my package is delivered to me in the north after about 2 days.

I am so so impressed with Bia Beauty and I am very eager to try out more of their products. I think I might try their eye cream next.

NYC Foil Explosion Nail Polishes

Recently I attended an Irish Beauty Blogger meetup in Dublin. It was so great to meet everyone and finally put faces to names. We each got a goodie bag and I was so shocked and excited to see these lovely polishes! If you don't know already, NYC are my favourite nail polish brand.

 011 Power of Elements

 012 Enchanting Fire

 014 Magic Earth

 013 Aqua Mystic

 010 Pure Air

Aren't they stunning? I actually have never seen a nail polish look quite so beautiful in the bottle. And all the colours are fab, there is not one that I wouldn't wear. 

They are a little tricky to apply, as are most metallic shades. They could look streaky very easily, in particular the orange shade "Pure Air" was rather difficult to apply - as you can probably see in my photo! It was a little gloopy, but with a little more time and care taken I am sure it could be applied a lot better than in this photo! 

I actually did not expect the light blue and light pink to look so good on the nail! All these shades are going to be perfect for summer - very eye catching and fresh.

These nail polishes retail at £1.99 each - they are a bargain!

Cocoa Brown Tan!

I had heard about this tan many times, it has exploded onto the Irish market. There are no stockists near me, so I ordered from www.carterbeauty.ie. I cannot believe this tan is only €7.99! It is a real bargain!

I have never used a mousse tan in my life, so I wasn't sure how much to use initially! I was being rather over-cautious with it I think. When you pump just a small amount onto your mitt, it expands out so it is quite deceiving. Next time I am going to use a lot more than I did. 

One thing I did notice about the application of this tan is that it feels very "dry", which is a good thing I guess. No sticky feeling! But when applying, you can feel your mitt start to drag and when that happens, I would recommend another small pump. My tan turned out a little lighter than I would have liked, but that was because I tried to spread each pump over as much of my skin as I possibly could. Also when I use lotion tan, I like to use the excess on the mitt to put a little on my face, but with this tan there was no excess! (Again that is possibly because I did not use enough). I guess it's all about trial and error when you try out new products.

This was after the three hours, which I believe is when the tan is fully developed. You can shower off the excess after one hour if that's what you like, but I decided to leave it. It is probably the most natural looking tan I have ever used. Not a hint of orange in sight! Just a healthy looking, natural glow. Next time I am not going to be afraid and stick plenty on!